1. Field of the Invention
The present invention, in certain respects, relates to cooling electronic equipment. In other respects, the present invention relates to cooling telecommunication equipment in harsh environments.
2. Description of Background Information
There is an ongoing need to cool high power electronic equipment efficiently and reliably. This is especially true with cellular communication base station antennas. These antennas are generally mounted atop high towers or masts in order to effectively transmit and receive signals. The environment in which these antennas are positioned is often hostile due to high temperatures, dust and other particles in the air, as well as to birds and insects. Therefore, previous attempts to cool such antennas have been ineffective. Atop towers and masts, use of conventional fans and blowers have limited life expectancy and are difficult to service. Natural convection heat exchangers are also deficient due to their excessive size and weight, which results in decreased efficiency. A harsh environment further decreases the efficiency of natural convention heat exchangers.
Thus, there is a need for an efficient cooling system that is impervious to environmental conditions.
The present invention is provided to improve cooling systems and cooling methods for electrical systems. More specifically, improved systems and methods are presented to provide a cooling system for electrical equipment of active cellular communication base station antennas that is efficient and that can be employed in hostile environmental conditions.
A cooling system of the invention can include a finned, heat exchanger connected to a base station antenna atop a tower or pole. Air nozzles can be positioned in between pairs of fins and pressurized air forced through the nozzles blows between the pairs of fins to cool the fins. Ambient air surrounding the fins and nozzles can be dragged along with the pressurized air to further aid in cooling the fins. The pressurized air can be supplied to the nozzles from a remote source off the tower or pole so that the air source can be easily accessed or repaired.